Lung diseases, including respiratory diseases, are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Current treatments are directed to reducing symptoms of lung disease and offer little to no prospect of cure or complete disease reversal.
Transplantation of pulmonary progenitor cells derived from stem cells is one approach that can be used to regenerate endogenous lung cells destroyed by injury and disease. Considerable interest has developed in the potential use of stem cells to repair lung epithelium destroyed by injury and disease.
Stem cells represent unique cell populations that have the ability to undergo both self-renewal and differentiation. It is beneficial to be able to isolate and purify precursor cells from a subject that can be manipulated before being reintroduced into the subject for treatment purposes. The use of a subject's own cells would obviate the need to employ adjunct immunosuppressive therapy, thereby maintaining the competency of the subject's immune system. For example, the directed differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells generated from a subject's somatic cell sample provides advantages in providing populations of cells for autologous regenerative cell therapy.